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Topic: Growth Stocks

Liz Claiborne Inc. $34 – New York symbol LIZ

LIZ CLAIBORNE INC. $34 (New York symbol LIZ; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 104.5 million; Market cap: $3.6 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) designs and markets a wide variety of clothing and accessories for men and women. The company sells most of its products through department stores. However, the recent merger of Federated Department Stores and May Department Stores has hurt its sales. Many retailers are also selling more private label apparel, which has hurt demand for Liz Claiborne’s national brands.

Weakness in its wholesale business forced Liz Claiborne to mark down certain products to cut inventories. Consequently, profits in the first quarter of 2007 fell 63.3%, to $0.22 a share from $0.60 a year earlier. These figures exclude unusual items. Sales fell 1.7%, to $1.15 billion from $1.17 billion.

The lower profits spooked investors, and the stock fell 20%. It now trades at 17.4 times the $1.95 a share that it should earn in 2007. The $0.225 dividend seems safe, and yields 0.7%.

Liz Claiborne now plans to sell some of its less profitable brands, and focus on those with greater growth prospects. It’s particularly interested in products aimed at younger shoppers, including its top performing Juicy Couture and Lucky Brand labels. The company also plans to expand its own retail operations, which will cut its reliance on department stores.

Liz Claiborne is a buy.

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